State sends unclaimed property to auction

WORCESTER — Anyone looking for an early Mother's Day gift may find one from an unlikely source this weekend.

The state's Unclaimed Property Division will place 100 items, collected from unclaimed or abandoned bank safe deposit boxes, on eBay at noon Saturday.

After this weekend, the state Treasury will roll out an estimated 1,200 more items over the next eight weeks through the Mass.State.Treasury eBay account.

A selection of the items going out to bid will be displayed for preview from noon to 5 p.m. Friday at the state Lottery office, 151 West Boylston Drive, Worcester.

The pieces include standard safe deposit box contents such as collectable coins, silver, gold, jewelry and watches to some Beatles trading cards.

"We used to do live auctions a number of years ago," said state Treasurer Steve Grossman, but in 2005, under then-Treasurer Timothy Cahill, the state tried to broaden its reach via the Internet.

Last year, eBay, with its expanded reach over live auctions, helped the state net $540,000 in cash for use in the General Fund.

"It's clearly been a home run for the commonwealth," Mr. Grossman said.

All items come from deposit boxes that have gone unclaimed or ignored for nine years, he said.

The state holds on to the items for one year in a secure warehouse in Chelsea, then gets them appraised in preparation for placement on eBay.

"We figure our No. 1 responsibility is to get unclaimed property back into the hands of rightful owners," Mr. Grossman said.

But when that fails, the state takes advantage of the available revenue. Proven owners or heirs of property sold online will be compensated with the item's sale price.

While the state has put a statute of limitations of sorts on safety deposit box contents, Mr. Grossman said, the state does not recoup or absorb unclaimed monetary property in the forms of stock, insurance payments and bank accounts.

More than 600,000 people — or nearly one-10th of the state's population — have $2.4 billion waiting to be claimed from the state's Treasury, he said.

The state has a searchable website, www.findmassmoney.com, and phone number (888) 344-6277, where people can find out if they have a claim to any of this money.